A dog's blog about the places she has been – Updates on even days of the month

Tag Archives: Tour

The Cotton Exchange, one of three places in the world where cotton prices were set prior to the Civil War.

Savannah was the first settlement in Georgia, which was the last of the original thirteen colonies. It is laid out on a grid iron plan which is remarkably well preserved – of the original 24 public squares on the original city plan, 22 have survived. The living oaks, draped with Spanish Moss and the early flowers give the city a distinctly antebellum feel to it. It is also a varied city in terms of architecture, as there is a fine example of virtually every type of building style present to admire.

Churches dot the city – and it was the site of the oldest Jewish synagogue in the nation. And the Girl Scouts were founded here as well. Not to mention the notable restaurants, bakeries and so forth that were pointed out along the drive as if it was product placement – which it probably was.

Like this:

By the time we reached Georgia, the skies were clearing, and by Savannah, there was plenty of blue. But no facilities. We pulled off the highway expecting a gas station or restaurant, but there was nothing on the darned parkway until we popped up in the heart of old Savannah.

We finally parked in a city parking garage, found the tiniest, weirdest McDonalds with only two unisex bathrooms to use, had an ice cream, and went into the city market.

The goal was to take a carriage ride; with Trixie in her cart, we opted for the Trolley ride, and got an excellent tour of the city seeing most of the squares, churches and antebellum housing close up. Given the close proximities, Pops had to use the iPhone to take photos along the ride.

Like this:

Leaving for Fort Sumter; the mainland museum is on the left, the aquarium to the right.

We awoke earlier than we expected, and after hearing the weather, we opted to go to Fort Sumter first. Better to be at sea before rain and a thunderstorm rolled in. Actually, aside from a few spits of rain, the skies were partially overcast, and the weather warm and pleasant.

There are two ways to get there by ferry; one is by way of Patriots Point, where the USS Yorktown is moored as a museum ship. The other is from Charleston, next to the Aquarium. We opted to take the 9:00 boat from the Aquarium, and managed to be first in line after getting the tickets. Yes, Trixie made it out to Fort Sumter before her boy did, the lucky dog.

The landside museum to the fort resembled an old warehouse from the era of tall ships, with a long flight of steps up to what would be the second floor; the ground floor is an open area of brick columns. Given the fact that the city is prone to flooding, you can see why they would want the museum up on stilts to keep it high and dry. We did go in before the tour so Mum could use the facilities – and inadvertently wound up in the administration area, as they had not properly locked the elevator down.

The museum was rather small, with a few key artifacts, such as one of the flags flown from the fort, and a chair from the secessionist meeting that made South Carolina opt to leave the Union. These and a small gift shop we explored after visiting the fort.

While waiting, we saw dolphins in the harbor, just popping up and down, teasing us.